The Annotated Sandman Edited and largely written by Greg Morrow Issue 13: "Men of Good Fortune" Neil Gaiman, [Michael?] Zulli, and [Steve?] Parkhouse Fourth part of long storyline _The Doll's House_ (but see below) Sixth story reprinted in trade paperback _The Doll's House_ Disclaimer: Sandman and all related characters are copyrights and trademarks of DC Comics Inc. Sandman and this annotation are intended for mature audiences only. Notice: Commentaries and additional information should go to morrow@physics.rice.edu (Internet) or morrow@fnal.BITNET. This material is posted by the editor directly to rec.arts.comics and COMICS-L, and is licensed to appear on Compu$erve and GEnie. It is also available via anonymous ftp from theory.lcs.mit.edu in pub/wald/sandman. Please contact the editor if you see this material on any other forum. Reproduction in any form without permission of the editor (as agent for the contributors) is forbidden. General: This story is unusual, in that it bears the onus of being "The Doll's House part 4", but has no direct relationship to the larger story, being a side trip into the past. Page 1 panel 1: The year, as we can deduce from page 5 panel 4, is 1389. Note the background chatter prominently placed throughout the story. The theme of each snippet is repeated at least once, across a time frame of many centuries. This supports the contention that the theme of the story is uttered by Hob on page 23. Note that a poll tax, in England, is a flat tax assessed on an individual basis. In the USA, a poll tax is a tax to be paid in order to vote, and has been declared unconstitutional. John Ball and Wat Tyler were leaders of the Peasant's Revolt in 1381. They were captured and killed by the authorities (the aristocracy); the rebellion only lasted a week or so as an organized force. John Ball is at least one source for the quote "When Adam dug and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?" The two Popes are Urban VI and Clement VII. Pope Gregory XI moved the papacy from Avignon back to Rome in 1377. Then he died, and a mob of people gathered outside the Vatican and insisted that the next pope be Italian; Urban VI was chosen. Several French cardinals, after leaving Rome, got together and elected their own pope, Clement VII, who based himself in Avignon. The split in the church lasted until 1417. Panel 2: These are Dream and Death, in what I take to be period costumes of people of somewhat higher social class than the patrons of panel 1. Panel 3: First known appearance of Hob (Robert) Gadling, who appears throughout this issue as well as later in the series. The Black Death was the name of an outbreak of bubonic plague which killed one third the population of Europe at its greatest extent. "Buckingham" apparently refers to Thomas of Gloucester, earl (or duke) of Buckingham, son of Edward III and uncle to the king, Richard II. Thomas sought to dominate Richard II, and had the upper hand at this time, but lost power in 1390. I still have yet to identify a specific campaign of Gloucester in Burgundy, which is a province in France. The Hundred Year's War was at an ebb during Richard II's reign, so the Burgundy campaign may have been part of the struggle between Burgundy and Orleans for control of the French throne, at that time held by Charles VI, "The Mad". Perhaps Buckingham led an English unit allied with one or the other side. Page 2 panel 2: One of these is Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of _Canterbury Tales_. Chaucer lived from c. 1340-1400. He is evidently writing _The Canterbury Tales_ at this time; historical sources say that it was written soon after 1387. The other, from panel 3, is named "Edmund", but is not Edmund Spenser, author of _The Faerie Queene_, who was born in c.1552. He may be the writer of _Piers Plowman_, which is generally considered to be the work of William Langland. At least one version of the full name of the work is _The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, together with Vita de Do-wel, Do-bet, et Do-best, secundum Wit et Resoun_. _Plowman_ was published in three editions in the fourteenth century, the first in 1362, the second in 1378, and the third (after this scene) in 1398. _Plowman_ is a tale to instruct the reader in morals. At least one Edmund of this period was another of Richard II's uncles, the Duke of York, although he is not likely to be in a working class tavern. "Langue des travaillistes" is "language of the socialists". Here we should probably assume that Gaiman meant "travailleurs", which means "workers". English is the language Edmund means, since the English were the lower classes under the French-speaking Norman upper classes. "La belle francais" is "the beautiful French." "Filthy tales..." is an accurate description of _The Canterbury Tales_. As I just happen to have a friend who knows medieval French (and boy, are the corporations knocking on her door with job offers for that skill!), I asked her to correct "Edmund's" modern French into fourteenth century Anglo-Norman. Recall that spelling had not been formalized yet. "Travailleurs" would go to "traveillieur" or "travilleur". "Francais" would probably go to something like "fraunces". Panel 3: The first background chatter I associate with Geoffrey; the second is a recurring punchline to an obscene joke. Does anyone know the rest of the joke? Panel 4: "Flux" probably refers to diarrhea here. Page 3 panel 2: We will come back to Dream's comment in a later issue. It is a fairly common theme in fantasy literature that elves, sprites, and the like once inhabited this reality, but went to another reality as the weight of humanity began to press on them. Panel 4: The Wandering Jew is an old legend. Ahasuerus was a name for him which may not have been used until 1602; another name for him is Cartaphilus. Ahasuerus is also the name of the king of Persia in the Book of Esther; he marries Esther, and is generally portrayed as a bumbling fool. The Wandering Jew cursed Jesus (or refused to soothe him by giving him water in another version) as he hung from the cross, and was told by him to "tarry [here] until I come again"; that is, live on Earth until the foretold Second Coming of the Lord. This legend was used as one possible origin of the Phantom Stranger (a DC mystic character) in _Secret Origins_ #10. Panel 6: "Swive," from context, means "have sex with". Page 4 panel 7: Death calls Dream "little brother". In _Sandman_ #24, in contrast, she calls him "big brother". He is little, as he is younger; he is big, as he is physically larger. Geoffrey Chaucer was indeed an important diplomat at King Richard's court. "Tu juges mal la nature humaine" translates as "you judge human nature badly." "Tu juges mal" would remain much the same, but "la nature humaine" is most likely incorrect, however, and is probably "humanite (accent grave)" or possibly "la nature des homs" (hommes is spelled "omes," "umes," "humes," "homes," "homs," "ums," "hons," "hums," "ommes," "honmes," "huems," "ouemes," and rarely "hommes.") Panel 8: A spittard is a young deer. This is the same John Ball as referenced above; the quote may be from "The Dream of John Ball", by William Morris, although its appearance here would be anachronistic. It would appear that restrictions on Saxon hunting rights were being put into place by the Norman aristocracy; this was a sore spot for many years, as may be seen in the story of Robin Hood. Page 5 panel 4: "King Dick" is presumably Richard II, the last Plantagenet king, who ruled from 1377-1399. Evidently, he's fairly "thick", or stupid. "Year of our Lord" is, of course, the English translation of the Latin Anno Domini, or A.D. Page 6 panel 1: Jump ahead to 1489. This is Hob again. Panel 2: Hob is talking with Dream, whose skin is miscolored in this panel in the original comic. Page 7 panel 3: Chimblies are chimneys, as Hob says. Rheum is a cold or runny nose. Catarrh is much the same. Panel 4: From reading _Hellblazer_, I interpret "brilliant" to mean, roughly, "pleasing" or "excellent". It seems quite modern for Hob to be saying it in 1489. Page 8 panel 2: York and Lancaster are two noble houses who contended for the throne of England in the War of the Roses. Henry VII was the first Tudor king of England, presumably named Richmond before he assumed the throne. Panel 4: Gutenberg did invent typography and made movable type into an industry in the 1400s. Page 9 panel 1: Jump ahead to 1589. Panel 3: The man with the broken leg is Christopher "Kit" Marlowe, a prominent dramaturge of the late 1500s. His companion is none other than Wild Man Will Shakespeare, himself. The two are known to have been friends, and Marlowe may have been the ``poet'' referred to in Shakespeare's sonnets, of whom the playwright was jealous. The play Will refers to here is, I believe, Marlowe's play _Faustus_. Note that Shakespeare speaks in iambic pentameter, which is the form of his sonnets and long sections of his plays. An iamb is a foot with one short or unstressed syllable followed by one long or stressed syllable. Pentameter simply requires five iambs in a line. In reading or speaking iambically, the stresses are not overemphasized as one might naively expect. Page 10 panel 1: This is Hob again. Panel 4: A venison pasty is a pastry shell filled with deer meat. It is correctly pronounced with a short 'a'. Panel 5: William Caxton was the first English printer. He died in 1491, but Hob is referring to events of 1489. Henry Tudor, here, is probably Henry VIII, the most famous Tudor king. Panel 6: Hob is describing a method of escaping detection as an immortal. It is a commonly-used method in science fiction. Panel 7: "Fat Henry" is undoubtedly Henry VIII, who established the Church of England, and confiscated the Roman Catholic monasteries. Page 11 panel 1: The longer lived a species is, the less fertile it is. Perhaps the same holds true for individuals such as Hob. Panel 4: It would appear that Marlowe was homosexual and Shakespeare quite heterosexual. I cannot directly confirm this. Shakespeare's orientation is a subject of much debate; several of his sonnets appear to be directed to a young boy. "Buss" means "kiss". At this point in time, female roles in the theater were played by boys or young men. "Horned" may refer to a crescent-shaped portion of anatomy that modern actresses don't have. Panel 5: Shakespeare was an actor most of his career. Panel 6: These are the opening lines to _The First Part of King Henry the Sixth_, which may or may not have been Shakespeare's first play. Recall that comets were often seen as portents of doom; crystal tresses refer to the tail of the comet. Page 12 panel 1-2: Presumably the quote from the play _Faustus_ is accurate. We may note that Beelzebub is a name of the devil, or the name of a major demon. Panel 5: "Bent" may perhaps have meant "homosexual" in 1589; it certainly meant this in Nazi Germany (as may be seen in occasional issues of _The Desert Peach_ ). We get "straight" for heterosexuals in analogy. Nowadays, "bent" is often used to mean "crooked", although it can still refer to homosexuals. Page 13 panel 1: Shakespeare did not spell his name the same way twice. Panel 6: Beware hubris, Hob. Also, "foreshadowing: your guide to quality literature", to quote "Bloom County". Page 14 panel 1: Jump ahead to 1689. Note the background chatter. Panel 3: This translates, roughly, as "You fucking shitheads! Get out of my way!" Page 15 panel 1: This is Hob, considerably reduced by circumstance. Page 16 panel 1: Oliver Cromwell, and Parliament, took over England for a while during the 1600s. The monarchy was eventually restored. Hob picked the losing side. Page 17 panel 1: Jump ahead to 1789. Hob is speaking, off-panel, describing one form of the "triangle trade" that was being run at this time. Panel 2: First known appearance of the woman, Lady Johanna Constantine. She appears later in the series. She is, by implication, of the same line as John Constantine, and is, like him, a callous manipulator, and in touch with the odder side of life. Panel 4-5: The French Revolution has begun in 1789, following the successful revolt of most of the British colonies in America six years earlier. "Odd's life" means "God's life"; the alteration was to avoid taking God's name in vain. Page 18 panel 1: _King Lear_ is one of Shakespeare's plays, Goneril one of Lear's daughters. Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) was a famous English actress. About this time a director/scholar did convert _Lear_ into a comedy to promote his own ideas of morality. As Dream "predicts", the modification did not last more than a few decades. I take "Great Stories" to mean a class of tales fundamental to human nature (including, no doubt, "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again" and the mixed-up twins farce). Page 19 panel 4: We have not yet met Jack Constantine. He is the fourth known true Constantine, the others being Kon-stan-teyn, the founder of the line, seen in _Hellblazer_ Annual #1; Lady Johanna, seen here and in a later issue; and John himself, seen every month in _Hellblazer_, in _Sandman_ #3, and irregularly in _Swamp Thing_. I exclude John's father, sister, and niece, as they do not follow the Constantine pattern of nasty lives ending in nasty deaths. Recently, another Constantine, a pirate, has appeared in _Swamp Thing_; this one is much nastier and lacks the subtlety of the true Constantines, as well as their orientation toward the occult. Panel 6: We have seen Dream pull this trick before, in _Sandman_ #1. Page 20 panel 4: Dream's is a description much more eloquent than mine of the Constantine pattern. Panel 5: Nightwalkers are probably vampires, but may be some other sort of undead. Panel 6: Queen Bess is Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Page 21 panel 1: Jump to 1889. Panel 2: "Bloody Jack" is Jack the Ripper, of course. The Ripper killed five prostitutes in London in 1888 and was never caught. The Alan Moore-Eddy Campbell series _From Hell_ is a look at the historical legend in comic book form. _Gotham by Gaslight_ features the Batman versus the Ripper. Panel 4: Lovely slang here. I couldn't even begin to contemplate what a "chickaleary" is. Panel 5: Who can identify the song?...Anyone?...Anyone? Page 22 panel 2: The "pox" is probably syphilis, here. Panel 4: Lady Johanna's mission for Dream is chronicled later in the series. Blood is Jason Blood, the human host of the Demon, Etrigan. See _Sandman_ #4. At this time, Blood is amnesiac, unaware of either Etrigan or his own immortality. Panel 5: We saw Mad Hettie in _Sandman_ #3. She has also appeared in a John Constantine sequence in _Swamp Thing_. Page 23 panel 2: Aha! The theme to the entire issue! Page 24 panel 1: Jump to 1989. Every bit of background chatter that's gone before appears again, even down to the dirty joke! Panel 4: Note that before, Dream always wore formal attire, but here is wearing quite casual clothing. This perhaps represents a personality change as a consequence of his imprisonment. Alternately, what was formerly a formal situation has become a casual meeting between friends, or the clothing of the upper class has gone from formal to casual and Dream is merely up-to-the-minute. Contributors include: Tom White (twhite@mozart.AMD.COM) gave the year of the Ripper murders (and misremembered the final date of the American Revolution!). Ian Lance Taylor (ian@airs.com) identified Ball and Tyler, elucidated the conundrum of the two Popes, wrote about some of the French politics of 1389, and discussed English hunting rights. He also researched _The Canterbury Tales_ and _Piers Plowman_, and tried to find "Edmund". With Connie Hirsch (fuzzy@athena.mit.edu) and Jeffrey Porten (porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu), he identified flux. With Jeffrey and Viktor Haag , he investigated the Wandering Jew. Michele Koch (private communication) undertook to translate "Edmund" into accurate fourteenth century Anglo-Norman. Alex (Chaffee?) (chaffee@reed.edu) spotted Shakespeare's poetry. Ian and Alex explicated the torture _King Lear_ underwent. Tom Galloway (tyg@caen.engin.umich.edu) added some historical information about "actresses" and Robert Kelly (rkelly@triton.unm.edu) chimed in with a typically sleazy remark :-) Ian and Tom G. identified and interpreted the play that Marlowe so disliked. Tom G. also revealed a penchant for demonology and the undead and noted the French Revolution and Good Queen Bess. Jeffrey had more to say, this time about the etymology of "bent", and Dream's choice of clothing. William Sherman and Mike 'The One and Only' Killans (mcollins@isis.cs.du.edu) confirmed the current use of 'bent'. William also added bits about "odd's life" and Shakespeare's sexual preference. Mike spotted another relative of Constantine's. Joel Tscherne (ac985@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) corrected some of my panel numbering. Michael Bowman added some information on `bent'. Mark MacBear identifying Marlowe's role in Shakespeare's sonnets (I think that who said it and who he meant, I lost most of the reference.) Dave Stobbe, who signs himself "Ed (the Anti-Dave)", corrected my attribution of movable type to Gutenberg.